Tuesday, April 30, 2013

MMOs and Gambling

More waterfalls in Pandaria. What war?

I am still coming to grips with why, as a player who plays infrequently, I don't find a free to play game and save myself some money. I spoke to this before, but a recent post by Ocho made me realize another reason why I am back playing WoW.I hate gambling. I remember recently going to a charity casino and even there, where there was no real money at stake, I didn't enjoy it. I can understand how you can get better at a game like blackjack and put odds in you favor, but in the back of my mind is the fact that most people are throwing away money and many of them can't afford to do it.Now, I know, to some, it is a form of entertainment. I've had friends who go gambling, put a limit on how much they will spend and enjoy the time they have. Sometimes they even come out ahead and, when they don't, they haven't spent any more than they would going out to a movie with popcorn and drinks. It's fine for them, and I wouldn't want to eliminate their enjoyment, but it isn't for me.The MMOs using the free to play model have learned that gambling is a way that they can make the money they need to build a game that many people want to play. I am glad those games are around and I am glad there is an affordable way for people to play them. However, just like gambling, it's not for me.

As I've mentioned before, I can afford a relatively small monthly price (less than the cost of two movie tickets these days), for a game that doesn't want to find ways to nickle and dime you. Yes, you can go buy pets and mounts from Blizzard if you want, but Blizzard knows they have your subscription money for this month and there is a good chance they can have it next month if they can keep you entertained. The motivations are different from the free to play games, or even the single pay games like Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World. Again, I am glad there are different models that fit different players, but I'm glad there are still some subscription games around and I hope they continue to exist.

6 comments:

I think I'm pretty much the same. I prefer the subscription or just-buy-the-whole-thing model much to F2P, although I'm not sure if it's due to gambling. I think it's mostly because of my distaste for commercial things entering the game and breaking my immersion.

In Lotro there is a game during the festival where you can open envelopes which have a small chance to drop an awesome war-steed cosmetic. (Of course, you can pay Turbine to reset your daily cap.) I didn't bother with it. As you said, it just feels like such a waste of time.

Thanks for the comment. Gambling isn't the whole thing, but Ocho's article made me realize it is part of it. Lord of the Rings Online is an interesting example of a free to play game because they do try to be very faithful to Tolkien. I may not like some of the practices, but I do want the game makers to make money so I can see more of the games I very much enjoy.

I completely understand where you're coming from. Being fairl6 risk averse with my money, I dislike gambling. Having said that, I have yet to see a random mystery box drop in TSW that requires a key from the cash shop to open. GW2 has such boxes and keys, but the keys are also available in-game, so it's not too bad. Other games are far more blatant in their "one-armed bandit" money sinks, as you pointed out.

On the other hand, WoW and other sub-based games have plenty of gambling opportunities, where you gamble time instead of money, hoping for a rare item to randomly drop. (I'm looking at you, "Captured Firefly" in Zangarmarsh!) :)

The buy to play games like TSW and GW2 can definitely play it safer than the free to play games. In some ways GW2 would seem ideal for a infrequent player like myself. However, I was bit paying $60 for SWTOR and not playing it very much and I would feel safer paying less upfront since there is a good chance I won't play enough to get over the hump and be able to commit.

I've been thinking about this some more and I could seem myself playing a game and not paying anything, but having others support my time (I've done this for Facebook game, but for an MMO). Some people might find it ideal, but it would bother me that a game has to resort to those tactics to make money.